Blog Archives

This is one of the intersecting plane models by Mukerji that I mentioned in a recent post. The label at the bottom of the photos is off the paper I used.

The whole time I was making this model I had the theme-tune to Gerry Anderson’s “UFO” going round and round my head. In case you didn’t know, Gerry Anderson was the creator of Thunderbirds (don’t tell me you haven’t heard of Thunderbirds either ;)). UFO is a hilarious (to me anyway) 1970’s imagining of 1980 with some ugly costumes (just check out the male submariners string vests), stylish suits, funky art and groovy sets.

In this particular model the planes are in the shape of 7-pointed stars. The model is called STUVWXYZ Stars. Being a nerd, it was the name that first attracted me to it. Don’t ask why though – I don’t know. You can click on this link to be taken to a website page which has instructions on how to fold the units and join them. It’s a bit sketchy on how to join them successfully into the ball-shape though. Here are some photos of the process that might help:

The first step involves making a ring with 7 out of the 8 colours. The eighth colour comes in at the halfway point (see later). The next step involves making rings of three with the 7 colours. The colours are chosen so that the units that lie in roughly the same plane have the same colour.

Now you continue the process so that the next layer consists of rings of 4. Then you alternate rings of 5 and 3.

Below is the model with the middle layer finished. The photo of the underside of the model shows you the 7-pointed star in the eighth colour. This is the only star that is complete at this stage.

From this point on it’s downhill all the way. If you’re lucky! You just continue completing the layers in the same way as you did for the first half.To speed things up I used a template (the blue unit in the photo above) to get the angles of the flaps right.

Up until last year I only really did traditional origami. This involves folding a single sheet of (usually square) paper into a complex shape. Origami purists would say that proper origami should not involve tearing, cutting or gluing. Below is a picture of one of my favourite models. It’s hard to believe that this 6-pointed, 3-dimensional object is folded from a single square sheet of paper, isn’t it?

Then last year I had a go at modular (or 3D) origami. It took me a little while to warm to the idea but as you can tell from this blog I’ve developed a passion for it. I can’t claim to be an expert on the subject but I’ll tell you what I have learned about it so far. Modular origami involves the use of relatively simple modules that are combined to produce more complex models. A lot of models just use one kind of module; like the Sonobe module which I mentioned in my last post, or the triangular unit used in “Golden Venture” models like my swan. Other models may use two (or more, I guess) different kinds of modules, like the one in the picture below which uses a pyramidal unit to join the flowery units together.

And that’s where I’m going to leave you folks because there is a colossal amount of information on the Internet for people interested in origami. Just type “origami seahorse” or “origami teapot” into your favourite search engine and you’ll see what I mean. (Who wants a paper teapot?!?) On YouTube alone you can find videos to teach you how to fold almost anything. I also provide links to some origami resources (like Mukerji’s website) in my other origami posts. Let me know how you get on…

Between Christmas and New Year I had a bit of clear-out. I got rid of a lot of old clothes. Amongst them was an old Aran jumper that I had knitted with cotton yarn. It had become shapeless, bobbled and the cuffs were frayed. I had put a lot of work into it though so I couldn’t let it go without documenting it here. The same goes for an old fancy dress costume that I made using fabric paints on a pillowcase. I ran out of blue paint towards the end – hence the weird cloudy edges. I strung little coloured balloons from the bottom so that they hung round my knees. They didn’t last long! [I didn’t know whether I could get in trouble for posting the full picture so I’ve blobbed out some of it. Can anybody tell me if it’s okay to display the full version?]

So that’s the old. Gone, but not forgotten. 😉

What about the new? Well, Santa brought me a new origami book. 😀 It’s another book by Mukerji called “Ornamental Origami”. I asked for it mainly for the “intersecting plane” models but I’ve been having a go at some of the other models in the book first. I started with a patterned icosahedron but I got bored with it before I’d even got halfway. I dismantled it and used most of the paper in the next model.

On the left is a “Flowered Sonobe” using 30 sonobe units with blue inserts. On the right is the same model after “blossoming”. [See the comments for a video on how to make this model.]

While I was in the middle of making this model I had some idle time with some empty after-dinner mint wrappers. (Can’t think where they came from. ;)) This is made from 12 standard sonobe units.

This summer in Ireland has been the best since I moved here in 2000. It is absolutely scorching. I haven’t written a post in a while because it’s just been too hot to do very much except eat ice-cubes. I’m posting now though because I’ve finally finished a model that I have been making for a friend. Her totem animal is the swan so I think she will like it. I used the video provided by a Romanian origami wizard on his blog. Thanks Razvan. It took ages to make. The little triangular pieces take less than a minute to fold but there are nearly 600 pieces in this model. I’ll let you do the maths. While I’m here I want to give you an update on the garden. We had our first harvest of redcurrants last week. It was also our last. 😦 The blackbirds have finally figured out that Hagrid has gone. Hagrid loved to chase birds. I didn’t like him doing it but now that the birds are scoffing my fruit I wish he was back at it. The blackbirds are keeping an eye on the ripening blueberries so I’m going to have to make some bird scarers. Anybody got any ideas? I was thinking about tin foil streamers but they’d probably be too fragile. I’ve been trying to do the annual hedge cut. It’s not fun in this heat. May I just say, for the record, that whoever decided that leylandii would make a good hedging plant ought to be taken out and shot. The previous owners of our house who planted the hedge should be shot too. Only kidding, but that’s how I feel when I’m up the ladder. And one final gratuitous picture of my garden in bloom. The pink flower is mallow and the white ones on the right are hebe. As always you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

When I haven’t been in the garden (weeding mostly) and doing chores, I’ve been folding paper. I’ve been feeling guilty about not spending more time in the garden though. The sun has been shining harder and longer here in Ireland than it has done for years (dare I say within living memory). I feel like I need to make the most of it while it’s here. But I’m not used to it. After a while I start turning pink and flopping around like a Dali watch.

I’ve found a few more nice modular origami models on YouTube. The first one, on the right, is a “twinboat icosahedron“, along with one of its units (on the right of the photo). On the left of the photo is the supply of triangular units I have built up since my last origami post. (Only a few thousand left to go…) The second YouTube model is “5 intersecting tetrahedra” by Thomas Hull. I’ve only made two of the tetrahedra so far (see photo on left). The pieces on the right of this photo are the beginnings of an origami slinky by Jo Nakashima.

Those last two models are going to take me a while to finish so in the meantime I wanted something quicker to do. I found this last model on a blog. It looks good with patterned paper but I wanted to see how it turned out using plain coloured paper. Not too bad.

I just tried to make a beautiful orchid from “Origami Design Secrets” by Robert J. Lang but I had to give up for now. It was too tricky. I made a few models (hummingbird, lizard and pegasus) from this book but my versions are a bit rubbish so I haven’t photographed them. I think I’ll stick with modular origami for now.

When I was young someone gave me a couple of books by Robert Harbin and I fell in love with folding paper. I’ve done it on and off over the years but this year I’ve gone on a bit of a binge. It started in February when I revisited my favourite models from the Harbin books and tried a few new ones from a book I got for my birthday a few years ago. My children joined in for a while and our models are shown in the photos on the right. (Click on the pictures if you want to see them enlarged.)

I was unsure about the modular origami in the new book. I used to be a bit of a snob about origami in the past – if you needed scissors, glue or more than one sheet of paper then it wasn’t “proper” origami. In fact, even after I committed heresy and made my first modular origami piece, I was still a little underwhelmed by the whole idea; it felt like cheating. Then I came across this blog – Razcaorigami – and I started to warm to it a little because it’s hard to deny that some of his models are pretty darn impressive. I followed his YouTube instructions on how to make the units and wrote a comment that I would patiently wait for his instructions on making his cool-looking egg. I held off for a few hours but then (sorry Razvan) I scoured the Internet and found someone else’s instructions [but forgot to bookmark them :(]. I made an egg. I was hooked. I found instructions for a ball but mine didn’t come out ball-shaped. I dismantled both models and used the shaping technique from the egg video and the spiral pattern technique from the ball video to make the ball pictured below.

Then I came across Sergei Tarasov’s model of St Basil’s. His models are amazing and they are made of tens of thousands of the little triangular units. I’ve found that I can make my units at times which I normally find annoying; like waiting for my laptop to boot or during ad breaks on the TV. I’m trying to build up a stock of differently coloured units to make a new model of my own invention. Watch this space blog!

Last night I found a different kind of modular origami on the Internet and a model called a Bascetta star. I got really excited about making it because it’s like my favourite Harbin model, the Jackstone (see right), but it’s even more pointy (see above)! I realised that this is about the most excited I get about anything. I love making things. Some of you who get a kick from bungee jumping or whatever, might find getting excited about folding little pieces of paper a bit odd. I used to find it odd too and I’ve written a post about coming to terms with being a nerd.